PROGRESS REPORT FALL 2013

Nature in Neighborhoods Capital Grants

Funding is available to help bring nature into neighborhoods.

Is your project next? Are you ready to make the next great neighborhood natural area?

cross the Portland metropolitan area, communities are finding A innovative ways to help nature thrive. Salmon habitat was restored along Johnson Creek. An eco-friendly light rail station is taking shape in Oak Grove, and a degraded alley was reinvented as a green parkway in Cornelius. Trees are springing up in the unlikeliest of places, such as Interstate 205. These projects have one important thing in common: support from Metro’s Nature in Neighbohoods capital grants.

Metro has awarded $7.5 million to 27 projects using funds from the voter- approved 2006 natural areas bond measure. Successful projects get the community involved, foster diverse partnerships and innovate. They lead to bigger benefits, from jobs and economic development to livable neighborhoods and clean air.

2 Metro’s Capital Grants PROJECTS AND CASE STUDIES

4 Land acquisition 6 Urban transformation 8 Habitat restoration 10 Neighborhood livability

Working with community partners, Metro’s Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants have already transformed acres of land across the region.

While the grants fund only capital WHO QUALIFIES | Neighborhood NEXT STEPS | Contact Mary Rose investments, a wide variety of projects and community groups, nonprofit Navarro at 503-797-1781 or maryrose. can fit the bill. organizations, schools, cities, counties [email protected] to discuss and public park providers are invited your idea, get advice on project • Would privately owned property in to apply. planning, connect with potential your community make the next great partners and hear lessons learned from neighborhood natural area? WHAT QUALIFIES | Projects must successful projects. purchase land or make improvements • Can a redevelopment project in to public property that result in a Learn more or download forms: your community go the extra step to capital asset with a life of at least www.oregonmetro.gov/capitalgrants integrate nature and habitat if more 20 years and a total value of at least funding is available? $50,000. • Is there a degraded stream, wetland MATCH CRITERIA | Applicants must or other habitat that needs to be match grants with outside funding or restored? in-kind services equivalent to twice the • Can schools, parks or other public grant award. land in your neighborhood become a place for people to interact with APPLICATION PROCESS | Letters of nature? inquiry are accepted anytime. Metro staff will evaluate letters, invite full applications from promising projects and conduct site visits. A grant review committee evaluates full applications at least once yearly and makes recommendations; the Metro Council awards grants.

Progress Report 3 Land acquisition By protecting special habitats, Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants give communities a place to connect with nature

rom white oak savannas to urban Nadaka Nature Park, $220,000 and destination and a potential wayside creeks, land acquisition projects $239,000 awards It’s easier to find along the future Westside Trail. With a F are preserving some of the Gresham’s Nadaka Nature Park these new addition, it will more than double region’s most special places. days, thanks to a two-acre expansion in size and grow exponentially in supported by a $220,000 Nature in wildlife habitat. Communities have come together to Neighborhoods grant. The park, which protect local assets that aren’t covered was tucked away in the East Wilkes White Oak Savanna, $334,000 and by Metro’s regional efforts to buy Neighborhood, can now be reached $500,000 awards Protecting the 20- natural areas. Preserving these small from Northeast Glisan Street. Led acre White Oak Savanna in West Linn neighborhood jewels unites groups by the Columbia Slough Watershed preserves a rare habitat – and, for as diverse as local governments, Council, neighborhood and community commuters who zoom by on Interstate neighborhood associations, churches, groups secured a second, $239,000 205, a spectacular view. businesses and nonprofit organizations. grant to transform the natural area’s A soft-surface trail will allow visitors Sometimes, land trusts help get the gateway with gathering spaces, nature- to experience this unique habitat, job done. based play and a community garden. showcasing remarkable vistas over the Willamette River to Canemah Bluff. As a tried-and-true conservation tool, Lilly K. Johnson Park expansion, land acquisition provides a straight- $345,000 Nestled south of Farmington forward way to make a difference. But Road in Beaverton, Lilly K. Johnson purchasing land isn’t an ending point. Park serves as a neighborhood It’s often the first step in a community’s mission to open a nature park, build trails or restore habitat.

Summer Creek, $1 million At 43 acres, Summer Creek is Tigard’s second largest park. Nestled along Summer and Fanno creeks, the mature forest, wetlands and open spaces are blossoming as a hub for environmental education. Nature lovers might spot turtles, frogs, salamanders, red-tailed hawks, owls and herons.

White Oak Savanna Photo by Roberta Schwartz

4 Baltimore Woods

CASE STUDY

Grant connects neighbors with nature Urban properties often in St. Johns’ Baltimore Woods corridor don’t meet the criteria for

Baltimore Woods was in limbo. While the grants that protect wildlife recession kept developers at bay, the area habitat and endangered gave rise to weeds, litter and neglect. species. Metro’s Nature in But neighbors around the 30-acre corridor in North Portland’s St. Johns Neighborhoods capital grants neighborhood saw a community asset. are a rare exception. And with the support of two Metro Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants, the woods were given a new lease on life. Baltimore Woods Baltimore Woods corridor, $539,000 Much of Baltimore Woods borders Barbara Quinn, chair of Friends of Baltimore ($158,00 in 2010, homes, garages and lawns north of Woods, said the group hoped to purchase $381,000 in 2012) Cathedral Park, stretching toward Pier several lots, which peaked in value a few Park. The trees, some crawling with ivy years earlier and were now less appealing Recipients: City of Portland and blackberry, act as a buffer between to developers. But purchasing the land Bureau of Environmental Services, the elevated residential area and industrial could be difficult, Bowers explained. Urban Columbia Land Trust, Friends of sites below, on the eastern banks of the properties often don’t meet the criteria Baltimore Woods Willamette River. for grants that protect wildlife habitat and endangered species. Partners: Portland Parks & Friends of Baltimore Woods had been Recreation, Friends of Baltimore advocating for restoration for several Metro’s Nature in Neighborhoods capital Woods, Audubon Society of years, but with development looming, grants are a rare exception. The Baltimore Portland, SOLV, Port of Portland, it was time to act. They contacted Three Woods project was chosen in 2010, with Catherdral Park Place LL Rivers Conservancy – which has since commitments from the Portland Bureau become part of the Columbia Land Trust of Environmental Services’ Grey to Green – and met with Virginia Bowers, who program, the restoration volunteer group specializes in helping acquire land for SOLV and the funding match of the City of preservation. There must be an option Portland’s Parks & Recreation department. A second Nature in Neighborhoods for rescuing the woods, the group Metro provided $158,000 toward the grant, awarded in 2012, will help buy thought. After hearing their vision, $475,000 price tag. four more parcels for preservation. Bowers said, “it seemed appropriate for Bowers thanks Metro for turning a Three Rivers to have a spot at the table.” With financial backing, Bowers helped grassroots efforts into real progress for the group scoop up five vacant tax lots – the St. Johns community. Meanwhile, a study funded by the including the site of proposed condos that Port of Portland looked at ways to were home to a large oak grove. “Without the grant from Metro, it route two proposed regional trails wouldn’t have happened,” she said. through Baltimore Woods rather than “The recession has had a silver lining “No way.” on a nearby street. The report noted because people were willing to sell,” support for preserving the woods as a Quinn said. “Some saw that we were trail asset and buffer, improving storm very interested in this project, and they water filtration, saving 30 Oregon white wanted to do something good for the oaks and potentially creating an area for neighborhood as well.” environmental education. SOLV organized volunteers to remove invasive species and plant new natives. A number of groups, representing both schools and businesses, have taken part.

Progress Report 5 Urban transformation Who says nature can’t be at home along a freeway, at a light-rail station or outside a medical campus?

ften, urban transformations feel far removed from the O natural world. Busy roads and big buildings evoke images of gray, not green.

But, as Nature in Neighborhood grant recipients are showing, a little creativity and determination can go a long way toward weaving nature into the most urban development and infrastructure projects. Just ask cyclists and runners enjoying thousands of plantings along Interstate 205, or commuters who will experience the region’s first green park- and-ride.

Urban transformations bring people together in unique ways, including organizations that don’t typically Interstate 205 tree planting with former Portland Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby (red shirt) collaborate. Although these projects Photo by Tom Atiyeh, Friends of Trees tend to have the biggest price tags, they also have some of the biggest benefits Hall Creek water quality Park Avenue transit station, for their communities. enhancement, $354,000 When you $350,000When TriMet’s newest MAX think of nature, central Beaverton line pulls into Park Avenue Station Greening Interstate 205, $410,000 probably doesn’t pop to mind – but in Oak Grove, riders will experience Unlikely partners – Friends of Trees that’s about to change. The City of the region’s first sustainable, habitat- and the Oregon Department of Beaverton is teaming up with local friendly park-and-ride. Green features Transportation – teamed up to plant businesses, schools, civic organizations will include a recreated riparian forest native trees and shrubs in an unlikely and governments to show that restoring and a natural stormwater treatment place: along the I-205 pathway. While a 650-foot section of Hall Creek can system. greening the 16-mile trail, they engage help the environment and attract volunteers, establish a model for future redevelopment, too. The project will be highly visible, roadside landscaping and generate jobs situated along Southeast McLoughlin for diverse communities. Boulevard and the new Trolley Trail.

6 Metro’s Capital Grants Cornelius

CASE STUDY

Metro grant helps concrete alley in Cornelius become a ribbon of green

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Cornelius, lively conversation filled a once- gray alley behind the new Virginia Garcia Wellness Center.

A group of volunteers cut wood, drilled screws, weeded and transplanted grasses to create new garden boxes for the center’s teaching space. Dozens of people passed by: Families laughing as they walked. Children riding bikes. An elderly man heading to the market. They greeted the volunteers with smiles, and questions about their work.

Cornelius Wellness Center Wellness coordinator Ivy Wagner, who typically spends her days indoors, began lot. Devoid of green except for a pair of “ Even when the clinic isn’t to see the center through new eyes. unhealthy trees, the blacktop path had been It’s not just doctors and nurses making an eyesore and walking hazard for years. open, the community is walking people healthier, she realized – it’s also the through the Green Alley, outdoor space, which was transformed Virginia Garcia’s team wanted to invigorate with help from a Metro Nature in the walkway, but they needed a concept and learning, enjoying, connecting Neighborhoods capital grant. capital. Scott Edwards Architecture provided with others and nature” the vision, and the Metro grant provided part “Even when the clinic isn’t open, the of the funding. Ivy Wagner community is walking through the Green Wellness Coordinator Alley, learning, enjoying, connecting with The block-long path was outfitted with others and nature,” Wagner said. “And permeable pavers, a dozen benches, 16 this is only the beginning of what the native trees and more than 2,000 new plants Green Alley, $322,000 space will mean to the community, as we and shrubs. The architects also worked with continue to explore ways to engage and Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve to create Recipient: Virginia Garcia Memorial educate those who visit.” new interpretive signs, teaching passersby Health Center about bioswales and water-saving features The wellness center opened in 2012, on campus. Partners: City of Cornelius, replacing a converted home and garage Adelante Mujeres, Centro Cultural, where Virginia Garcia got its start. While “We wanted to look at the bigger picture Verde, Jackson Bottoms Wetlands allowing the center to see more patients, of how a building contributes to the water Preserve the new campus is also designed to environment in the area, and how it can more efficiently achieve the center’s have a positive impact,” said Michelle Horn, longstanding goal: providing healthcare foundation relations officer for Virginia and wellness education to uninsured and Garcia. “Even more impressive is that this low-income families. accessible route was built using pervious Benefits of the transformed alley transend surfaces, native plants and bioswales that That vision was realized, in part, beyond beyond Virginia Garcia’s campus, said Dick benefit local and regional water and air the walls of the modern new building. Reynolds, community development director quality,” he said. “It’s a win-win!” Virginia Garcia transformed a crumbling for the City of Cornelius – a partner in the alley, which ran east to west through the Metro grant. The ADA-accessible outdoor space helps serve the 22 percent of Cornelius residents who have a disability, Reynolds said.

Progress Report 7 Habitat restoration By improving habitat for fish and animals, restoration projects create better places for people, too

onservation groups and local goverments have no shortage C of restoration projects on their wish lists. The challenge: finding funding to make them happen. With a boost from Nature in Neighborhoods grants, restoration efforts are improving the health of floodplains and watershed basins across the region – from the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve to Mount Scott Creek and several places in between. Although these projects improve habitat for fish, amphibians and other animals, many are also designed to improve the park experience for human visitors. Johnson Creek restoration

Successful restoration projects are Rock Creek confluence, $209,000 foot traffic that trampled native plants selected for their ecological value. Their When Happy Valley and Damascus and eroded creek banks. benefits will unfold over many years, as grow, Rock Creek will be ready. Wapato Marsh, $129,000 When native plants make a comeback, salmon Partners are improving stream Hillsboro’s Jackson Bottom Wetlands return to streams and birds rediscover complexity, reducing erosion, Preserve serves as a destination for healthy wetlands. enhancing water quality and creating an environmental study site where the hiking and bird-watching – and a living example of restoration. Partners are Boardman Creek fish habitat, creek meets the Clackamas River. transforming 120 acres of degraded $485,000 At Oak Grove’s Stringfield Spring Park Natural Area, $178,000 wetlands into a healthy ecosystem. Park, habitat was restored along lower Partners are rerouting a trail out of Boardman Creek. Two downstream a wetland, installing boardwalks and Stone Bridge Fish Passage on Nettle culverts were replaced with bridges, an overlook, restoring native planting Creek, $47,000 At Tryon Creek State providing innovative “wildlife and adding large, woody debris at this Park, erosion threatened a stone bridge crossings” for amphibians and land seven-acre natural area nestled along across Nettle Creek – and, along with it, animals. the Willamette River in Milwaukie. a regional trail connection. The Tryon Creek Watershed Council is replacing Crystal Springs, $311,000 Crystal Mount Scott Creek, $150,000 With the bridge, stabilizing stream banks and Springs is realizing its potential as an restored banks and riparian areas at enhancing habitat. excellent salmon stream, thanks to the North Clackamas Park, Mount Scott restoration of floodplain and riparian Creek is healthier than it has been in a habitat and the removal of a culvert long time. New overlooks reduce heavy that blocked juvenile fish passage. 8 Metro’s Capital Grants Klein Point CASE STUDY

In Milwaukie, Metro helps a riverfront renewal come to life

Reinvigorating Milwaukie’s waterfront has been a public priority for nearly half a century. And with help from Metro, both residents and salmon will have reason to come and stay a while.

Renderings of manmade water features, a floating dock and paved trails offer a promising future for Milwaukie Riverfront Park – long home to parking lots, a boat ramp and a smattering of trees.

The city envisions a walkable park with benches, event space and picnic areas for the 8.5 acres sandwiched between Milwaukie Riverfont Park the Willamette River and McLoughlin Boulevard. A four-phase design plan Using funds from Metro, along with stresses recreation, the environment various matches, the groups oversaw the Klein Point overlook and habitat and education. meticulous construction of log jams at the enhancement, $225,000 mouth of Johnson Creek, as well as a stone Officials hope that completing phase riffle over an exposed sewer pipe. Crews Recipients: Johnson Creek one will feed interest – and funds – secured 150 massive logs to provide fish Watershed Council, City of into the project. Thanks in part to a habitat, and the riffle eases their migration Milwaukie $225,000 grant from Metro’s Nature upstream. in Neighborhoods program, progress is Partners: Willamette Riverkeeper, under way. Jenkinson said the features have been Milwaukie Rotary, Oregon Dental on the organization’s wish list for years Services , Gary and Sharon Klein, The City of Milwaukie and the Johnson and may improve fish counts, which are Oregon Watershed Enhancement Creek Watershed Council saw the increasing but still very low. Last year, three Board, PGE Salmon Fund, riverfront as an opportunity to collaborate. Coho salmon were found about 15 miles FishAmerica Foundation, Both want to create recreation space while upstream in Johnson Creek – the farthest City of Portland being sensitive to the location, bordered they’ve been spotted in more than a to the north by Johnson Creek and to the decade. south by Kellogg Creek. The streams are hubs of activity for salmon seeking refuge The final piece of phase one is a curving “What we’re creating is a recreational from the warmer Willamette River. concrete path that ends in an overlook endpoint so that people can walk, of the mouth of Johnson Creek. It will be bike or drive. Once they’re here, they Robin Jenkinson, restoration coordinator partially shaded by a 200-year-old Oregon can actually interact with music and for the watershed council, uses the site white oak tree, and interpretive signs will performances, enjoy the play area and for school field trips to talk about water explain the vital role Johnson Creek plays picnic grounds, sit on benches and read conditions and the species that call for salmon. interpretive signs,” she said. Johnson and Kellogg creeks home. Herrigel called the riverfront project her It’s a tall order for a site that started as “As an urban watershed council, at least biggest task at the city. She is one of many a blank slate – or empty parking lot. But half of our projects include an education in the community counting on the redesign Herrigel is optimistic, promising “We’re and outreach component,” she said. “It’s to revive the waterfront and reflect the going to turn passive recreation into an important place for people to connect city’s vibrancy. active recreation.” and learn about our streams.”

Progress Report 9 Neighborhood livability

Metro’s capital grants transform neighborhood natural areas, showing that nature can be close to home

ourist guidebooks hail big Conservation Corner, $99,000 regional parks, but for locals, A historic property in North T neighborhood natural areas are Portland’s Humboldt neighborhood a big draw. They give people a place to has been transformed into an outdoor walk, reflect and connect with nature. classroom and living laboratory. The demonstration garden, housed at Nature in Neighborhoods grants the East Multnomah Soil & Water are helping communities create and Conservation District office, gives transform outdoor destinations close to visitors ideas to try at home. homes and schools. Thanks to voters’ support, kids will enjoy a new nature April Hill Park, $83,000 A durable play area at Westmoreland Park. In trail, a boardwalk with a nature- North Portland, two urban gardens viewing platform and bridges at provide a learning laboratory for nature creek crossings will protect sensitive lovers of all ages. And students at habitat at April Hill Park in Southwest Pleasant Valley School will explore their Portland, while catering to the people favorite natural area on a network of Convervation Corner who enjoy it. Visitors are treated to trails and boardwalks. chorus frogs, long-toed salamanders, Westmoreland Park, $150,000 A rough-skinned newts and dozens of Unlike big regional natural areas, popular Southeast Portland park gets an bird species. neighborhood projects typically don’t upgrade with the restoration of Crystal protect large blocks of threatened Springs Creek. A concrete channel and Humboldt Learning Garden, $34,000 wildlife habitat. But, by preserving playground equipment were removed A long-vacant lot next to Humboldt the nature down the street, they forge from the floodplain, and banks School is now a learning garden for a connection between people and the replanted with native trees and shrubs. students and residents of Humbolt natural world. A new play area helps children discover Garden, a low-income housing the natural environment. development across the street. Metro’s Cully Park, $577,000 Once a closed funding helps collect and reuse the and gated former landfill, Cully Park is Pleasant Valley School boardwalk, school’s stormwater and incorporate Restoring the Wildside being transformed with walking trails, $112,000 native plants throughout the garden. natural area has been a learning play and picnic areas, and a community experience for students at Centennial’s garden. The nonprofit Verde is taking Pleasant Valley Elementary School – the lead in the transformation, engaging and the lessons will multiply with a diverse community groups and new network of trails and boardwalks. neighbors to reclaim this 25-acre site in This project allows students to explore Northeast Portland. the seven-and-a-half-acre natural area more easily.

10 Metro’s Capital Grants Clackamas County

CASE STUDY

For park-deprived neighborhood in Clackamas County, neighborhood natural area was a selling point

When Jill and Adam Brittle want to take their toddler to the park, they barely have to leave the front door of their Clackamas County home.

Less than a minute away, at Hawthorne Park, they can enjoy native trees and shrubs, a walking path, picnic tables, a stormwater pond and bridge – and, most importantly for little Ella, a play area that borrows from nature with logs and climbing boulders. The promise of this park, funded in part by a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods grant, helped attract the Brittles to the Hawthorne Park neighborhood a few years ago. recognized that was an opportunity to “It’s not a private park, but it’s right across provide some additional park space for the the street,” said Adam Brittle, president Hawthorne Grove Park, community. The entire neighborhood is of the Hawthorne Park Condominiums $140,000 really deficient in parks and open space.” Association. “That was one of the real selling points.” Recipient: Clackamas County Leftover land was no accident, said Kirby Gibson, HP Development’s real estate Until their namesake park opened in Development Agency agent. Rather than build a traditional 2012, residents of the Hawthorne Park Partners: HP Development, neighborhood with large yards, she said, development had to walk a mile to Clackamas County Land Trust, the developer decided to squeeze lots and the nearest playground. West of 82nd North Clackamas Parks and make room for a communal outdoor area. Avenue near Southeast King Road, the Recreation District, Clackamas This approach paid off, with the promise new neighborhood offered easy access to County Soil and Water of a future park attracting home buyers shopping and transportation – but no park. Conservation Distric with dogs and children. Residents paid The development falls in an urban $185,000 to $235,000 for the three-and- renewal district intended to revitalize part four bedroom homes, trickling into the of northern Clackamas County, which association, which is responsible for park new neighborhood in 2010 and 2011. allowed Portland-based HP Development upkeep. They also make the park more to enhance the project by teaming up appealing, participants said. The Brittles were among the first to move with the Clackamas County Development in, getting settled just a few days before Agency. They guaranteed that 10 units in “Metro’s grant was great their daughter was born. Their new the 29-home development will always be addition heightened their interest in park because it adds to the affordable. Plus, the county purchased an space, Adam said, because “we wanted acre of land for a neighborhood park and greenness of the community.” somewhere for her to play.” He served on secured a Nature in Neighborhoods grant to a committee that helped design the park. Kirby Gibson, help create it, along with a $50,000 grant Participants said Metro’s involvement Real estate agent for from Oregon State Parks. helped steer the park toward a greener HP Development future. They chose a nature-based play “Initially, our interest was piqued with area instead of traditional slides and jungle the housing part of the project,” said Ken gyms, and opted for native plantings. Itel, project manager for the development Natural materials take fewer resources to agency. “When we realized there was maintain – a bonus for the homeowners going to be this leftover open space, we

Progress Report 11 ABOUT METRO

Clean air and clean water do not stop at city limits or county lines. Neither does the need for jobs, a thriving economy, and sustainable transportation and living choices for people and businesses in the region. Voters have asked Metro to help with the challenges and opportunities that affect the 25 cities and three counties in the Portland metropolitan area.

A regional approach simply makes sense when it comes to providing services, operating venues and making decisions about how the region grows. Metro works with communities to support a resilient economy, keep nature close by and respond to a changing climate. Together we’re Summer Creek natural area making a great place, now and for generations to come.

Stay in touch with news, stories and Whether you’re in the mood things to do. for a short hike or a weekend www.oregonmetro.gov/connect camping trip, a boat ride or a picnic, Metro has a METRO REPRESENTATIVES destination for you. Metro Council President – Tom Hughes You’ll share the landscape with salmon swimming in restored Metro Councilors – Shirley Craddick, streams, birds streaking across the sky and giant old oak trees District 1; Carlotta Collette, District 2; Craig Dirksen, District 3; Kathryn towering overhead. Harrington, District 4; Sam Chase, District 5; Bob Stacey, District 6 Auditor – Suzanne Flynn Thanks to voters, you can explore 16,000 acres of regional parks, trails and natural areas across the Portland metropolitan region. Metro Regional Center 600 NE Grand Ave. You also have opportunities to take nature classes and volunteer Portland, OR 97232-2736 at these special places. 503-797-1700

To get involved, visit www.oregonmetro.gov/naturalareas.

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